Search

The objective of the present study was to explore the association between muscarinic cholinergic signaling and urothelial bladder tumors. Possible associations among overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms and bladder tumors were retrospectively investigated using a multicenter Chinese database with prospectively collected data since 2010. Firstly, it was demonstrated that OAB symptoms, such as urgency, were more severe in patients with invasive bladder cancer and were associated with a reduced prognosis. Following this, muscarinic cholinergic receptor 3 (M3R) expression in urothelium was determined to be lower in invasive cancer tissue than in adjacent non-cancerous tissue, yet M3R upregulation was associated with a reduced progression free survival (PFS) time. Additionally, it was also demonstrated that muscarinic cholinergic receptor 2 (M2R) was upregulated in the sub-urothelium, and this was also associated with a reduced PFS time. Furthermore, it was determined that cholinesterase and acetylcholinesterase were lower in invasive cancer than in non-invasive cancer. In conclusion, the results indicated that M3R expression was downregulated in invasive bladder cancer, which may have a role as a protective anti-oncogene, in contrast to its oncogenic role in numerous other cancer types. Therefore, muscarinic cholinergic signaling may be a novel therapeutic target for treating bladder cancer.

Although it is the most widely used biomarker for prostate cancer, the use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) is controversial due to its limitations in specificity and sensitivity. The proteasome is a complex associated with cell proliferation and apoptosis, and the abnormity of these processes may lead to tumor occurrence. Previous studies have reported that proteasomal activity is associated with cancer progression and can be used in risk stratification. The purpose of the present study was thus to investigate the feasibility of proteasome activity as a biomarker for prostate cancer. Proteasome activity in vitro and in vivo was detected, along with the expression of the substrate proteins NF-κB inhibitor-α (IκB-α), Bcl-2-associated X (Bax) and p27. Chymotrypsin-like proteasomal activity was elevated by 70% in vitro and 23% in vivo, and the expression levels of the proteasome substrate proteins IκB-α, Bax and p27 were decreased in prostate cancer cells and prostate tumor xenografts compared with normal mouse prostate tissue. In conclusion, proteasomal chymotrypsin-like activity maybe a potential biomarker for prostate cancer, and may be suitable to supplement PSA in clinical application for prostate cancer diagnosis.

Cystitis glandularis (CG) has been hypothesized as a potential precursor of adenocarcinoma, although this remains controversial. The present study reports data accumulated from 166 cases of cystitis glandularis with follow-up periods ranging between 0.5 and 17 years. The association between intestinal and typical CG and bladder carcinoma was retrospectively evaluated. The patients included in the present study had presented with typical (n=155) or intestinal (n=11) CG between 1994 and 2010. Of those patients, concurrent carcinoma of the bladder was identified in 15 (9.0%) patients, including two cases of squamous cell carcinoma and 1 case of sarcoma. The cases of carcinoma were identified either prior to or concurrently with the diagnosis of CG. Follow-up was available for 9/11 (81.8%) patients with intestinal CG. Nine months following transurethral fulguration, 8/11 (72.7%) patients were in complete remission and 1/11 (9.1%) complained of urgency and dysuria; two patients were lost to follow-up. The follow-up of the patients ranged from 0.7 to 4.5 years (median, 2.67 years; mean, 2.82 years). No evidence of subsequent carcinoma was identified in any of the patients during the follow-up of the intestinal and typical CG groups. In addition, there was no evidence of carcinoma subsequent to CG in either of the typical or intestinal CG groups. The results did not support that CG increases the future risk of malignancy in the short term and repeated cystoscopies over a short period of time are not recommended.